La Chute de la Lune
by Cosmic Lune
Summary: Amidst the remaining ruins of the Soul Society, the end of the Thousand Year Blood War nears. Ichigo and Rukia fight alongside each other one last time. (Oneshot.)


A cascade of ice had fallen around the battlefield, encasing the enemy in sheets of a beautiful, crystal fate. Death.

"Rukia…" The Substitute took a confident step forward. The tiny cloud of white flakes that was falling around them seemed to accompany an untainted silence. Which, amidst battle, was extremely off-putting. But Ichigo was well aware of the reality of the situation, too. The could very well be their last battle. Their last chance to fight alongside each other. His last chance to look at her. To tell her. He didn't plan to waste the moment.

"Your Bankai is breathtaking." His voice was strong and bold, enough so to cause Rukia's piercing violet irises to shoot up to his face.

He was standing close to her now. Close enough that if he wanted to reach out and touch her, he could. And god, did he want to. A very small, delicate smile warmed her icy eyes slowly. She was proud of herself. Proud of the both of them. Ichigo's hand hovered out in front of him, and over Rukia's cheek, retracting in the slightest at the freezing aura being emitted from her flesh.

Her body temperature was slowly and tediously restoring to a normal state. The glaciers surrounding them creaked as they shifted among the frozen pavement. Despite the silence, despite the scent of death that was lingering in the air, there was a greater sense of peace in this moment. The teen's hand went limp, falling hopelessly at his side once more. "Please… be careful."

The lieutenant was well aware of the consequences of regaining her body warmth too quickly. It was a complicated, strategic process, one that she had yet to perfect. She exhaled a breath of cool air, in some small attempt to reassure the other.

"Do not worry about me, fool," Rukia huffed in her signature, irked tone. "We must get moving."

"Yeah…"

For the first time, Rukia's eyes flicked away from the male's warm, peaceful features, to instead focus on the dark silhouette which was suddenly leering over his shoulder.

"Ichig-!" The sudden, crushing cloud of spiritual pressure was overwhelming. Where had this Reiatsu come from so suddenly? How had she failed to detect it earlier?

Time was moving in slow motion.

_This is your fault._

It rang through Rukia's head like a siren as the first shot was fired faster that she could comprehend. The mass of destructive energy in the embodiment of an arrow missed him, but not by enough. It pierced through his shoulder, lurching the boy's body forward. A strained grunt sounded from Ichigo's throat, his expression contorting into a deep wince as he craned his neck as far back as he could before the seething pain set in and began to boil beneath his flesh and deep within his muscles. His eyes slowly regained focus to set on his attacker; Yhwach. Rukia wanted to jump out in front of him before the Quincy could fire another shot. But she had to be careful. She was still amidst an inconsistent state of Shikai and Bankai, and if she wasn't careful, she knew she could cause serious physical damage to her body. But another source of immense, dauntingly familiar Reiatsu was approaching quickly.

So this is what he had chosen. No, who he had chosen. _Them._

"I do not want to fight you, Ishida." Rukia spoke lowly, calmly, and she kept her eyes locked on Ichigo as he regained his composure, releasing his grip on his severed shoulder and moving in for his attack.

"I'm afraid you have no choice, Kuchiki-san." The raven-haired male used his middle finger to push his glasses up the bridge of his nose before gracefully drawing his bow. He didn't give himself time to think, or even take the female's words into consideration.

_Negative forty._

She flash-stepped out of the way of his line of fire.

_Negative thirty. _

If he had no intention of showing mercy towards those he had once acknowledged as friends, she didn't either. She drew her sword, shielding her face with it's crystal blade.

_Negative fifteen._

Another shot. In the process of dodging it, the petite female placed herself silently behind the Quincy, raising the palm of her hand and aiming it towards him, casting a shot Kido in his direction.

_Zero._

She needed more time. She needed to be out of Bankai to be able to exert the full potential of her Reiatsu. And Ishida was quick. Within the half of a second she had stood still, he had dodged her Soukatsui and additionally flash stepped behind her back, releasing another arrow without hesitation.

_Twenty five. _

It was a close shot. The Reiatsu burned as the edge of it's energy grazed over the side of her neck.

_Sixty._

Her energy hitched. The sound of blood splattering across the ground rang through her ears. She had overstepped her power. Hand flitting up to her neck, her palm pressed into the open wound as the erosion of her skin leftover from the Quincy's brief touch of searing energy knocked her to her knees.

**xxxxxxxxxxx**

"GETSUGA TENSHO!" The teen shouted with a single swoosh of his blade downwards. But with the flash of light that was expelled from the tip of his sword, the Quincy's dark silhouette was gone, dissipated into the horizon. Ichigo stumbled backwards. He was gone. But Ichigo was well aware that the battle was not over simply because the enemy was no where in sight.

_Where did that bastard go? _His muscles tensed as he whipped his head over his shoulder, scanning the nearly empty battleground for his opponent. But something else cut off his train of thought.

**xxxxxxxxxxx**

Everything after the single drop of the Quincy's Reiatsu blurred together in one bright flash of light.

It was over. Ishida had grown insanely powerful within the past few months. Normally, she would have been able to deflect his Seele Schneider in her Shikai with ease. But she was still stuck in a vulnerable state between powers which would ultimately determine her fate.

"RUKIAAA!" The Substitute roared, utilizing his maximum amount of spiritual pressure to Shunpo over to them as quickly as he possibly could. He sunk to the ground beside her, cautiously yet hastily coaxing his arm under her back and lifting her torso onto his lap. He used his forearm to support her back, the other flitting over her chest to cover the deep, open gash down her front. His eyes only parted from her cold, desaturated visage momentarily to search the expression of the one standing before the two of them, the one he had once called his friend.

"Ishida…" His hands were shaking now, and his vision was becoming blurred. "_Why?_" His voice cracked through his desperation. And before he could receive an answer, the other male was gone as well.

Long, unsteady digits ran through the lieutenant's sweat-matted ivory hair at her temple. "R-Rukia…" His blood-covered palm smoothed down her cheek. She was still cold. But with that simple touch of his, for whatever reason, she began to melt. Her snow-white locks began to revert to their natural, ebony black hue. But the color did not return to her cheeks, nor did the life to her eyes. "Oi… Rukia…" The back of his index finger flicked against her cheek gently in attempt to regain her full consciousness. But her half lidded eyes were unresponsive. Ichigo's arms around her shoulders tightened, and he leaned in to touch his forehead to hers.

A crack of thunder.

"Don't die…" His voice was soft now, weak. The pain in his own wounds were unrecognizable. The rain was beginning to fall, washing away their imperfections as the droplets ran down their cheeks in tiny streams.

She didn't have much energy left, but Rukia was able to use the last of it to connect her gaze with his. Her eyes were dull, and his were masked by an accumulating wall of tears. He had so many things he wanted to tell her- but every word was blocked within the depths of his throat, threatening to rip through his vocal chords in desperate sobs. It couldn't end. Not like this.

Ichigo leaned in to counteract the remaining space between them, his lips crashing into hers in a soft, tender kiss. The tears were falling from his eyes and down their cheeks now, although the only thing that distinguished them from the rain was the salty taste now resonating in his mouth and on her cold, lifeless lips. He had wanted to do this for so long, but had never managed to find the right time. This was his last chance.

But it was too late.

He leaned back, eyes fluttering over her pale, barren expression. When her eyes didn't open, something heavy sunk inside of him.

"Rukia…" His jaw clenched, along with the fingers that were wrapped over her shoulder.

"O-Oi...Rukia!" His arms tightened around her lithe figure, and his palms rocked her back and forth lightly in attempt to wake her. But when he proved unsuccessful, he began to shake her quicker and more aggressively. She was limp, and the remaining singe of color that had previously tinted her cheeks was now drained from her cold, porcelain features.

"_RUKIA!_"

She was gone.

Ichigo's shoulder's slouched, and his head fell, hanging at her chest as his screams pierced through the fog and the dim twilight.

The moon was no where to be seen that night.


End file.
